All posts tagged Entertainment

Bono is still recovering from a bicycle accident, but U2 will perform without him in Times Square.

Getty Images

A concert by rock band U2 to mark World AIDS Day is set to kick off shortly in Times Square—but sans frontman Bono, who is still recovering from injuries sustained in a bike accident last month in Central Park.

Instead, New Jersey rocker Bruce Springsteen and Chris Martin of the British band Coldplay will perform with the other three band members as “U2 Minus 1,” according to an announcement on the band’s website.

Messrs. Springsteen and Martin will take turns on vocals, and Kanye West and Carrie Underwood are also scheduled to perform. The event is set to begin at at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Duffy Square, on Broadway between 46th and 47th streets. Read More »

It’s no surprise that Cat Stevens’ first U.S. shows in almost 40 years would be a tough ticket – and now, those in the tri-state area will have even a tougher time if they want to see the songwriting legend.

Stevens posted a statement on his website today, saying that he’s canceling his planned New York City show at the Beacon Theatre on Dec. 7 because of the “extortionist” prices the re-sellers are asking.

“I have been a longtime supporter of paperless tickets to my shows worldwide and avoiding scalpers,” he wrote. “Unfortunately NY has a state law that requires all tickets sold for shows in NYC to be paper, enabling them to be bought and sold at inflated prices. I’m sorry about not being able to now play in NYC but hope to find an opportunity that aligns with my support of this issue in the near future, God willing. Looks like the Peace Train is going to arrive at New York a little bit later than expected.” Read More »

A woman walks inside a temporary ‘pop up’ reproduction of the “Central Perk” coffee shop, a center piece set of the television situation comedy “Friends” on Monday.

Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Call it “The one with all the fans.”

Devotees of the sitcom “Friends” flocked to Lafayette Street in SoHo on Wednesday morning for the opening of the pop-up “Central Perk” café, which for the next month will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the show’s first airing.

The café was a centerpiece of the sitcom, where Jennifer Aniston’s Rachel showed up drenched in her wedding gown and Lisa Kudrow’s Phoebe belted out folks songs such as “Smelly Cat.” And it was recreated down to its brick walls and window logo, with the actual orange couch that the characters crowded around to gush about their crushes or complain about their dead-end jobs.

With memorabilia from the show’s 10 seasons on the walls and clips from memorable moments like the home video of Monica and Rachel’s prom playing on the screen, awestruck visitors walked around and quoted characters. Read More »

Joan Rivers and Viola Davis at Davis’s home in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, in May. Ms. Rivers, a longtime volunteer and board member of God’s Love We Deliver, presented the organization’s 15 millionth meal to Ms. Davis.

Andrew Lamberson for The Wall Street Journal

She was known as a legendary comedian, but Joan Rivers, who died Thursday at age 81 in Manhattan, also had a passion for volunteering and charity.

The New York-based God’s Love We Deliver, which provides free meals to seriously ill people living in New York and parts of northern New Jersey, was among Ms. Rivers’ favorite charities. She had been a board member and volunteer for more than 20 years. In May, she delivered the organization’s 15 millionth meal to 84-year-old Viola Davis, who lives in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn.

After meeting with Ms. Davis, Ms. Rivers sat for an interview during a car ride back to Manhattan. She talked about her favorite charities, work, travel, books, television and late night talk show hosts. Read More »

John Lloyd Young, Erich Bergen, Vincent Piazza and Michael Lomenda star in the movie version of the musical ‘Jersey Boys.’

Keith Bernstein/Warner Bros. Pictures

The movie “Jersey Boys” didn’t perform as well as some might have expected, performing worse than fellow Broadway-to-big-screen transplant “Rock of Ages” did in June 2012. But what about the live show on which it’s based? Will the publicity of a movie translate into more tickets sold, or will audiences abandon the live show for the cheaper ticket or DVD rental of the film adaptation?

Looking at many of the movies released since 2000 based on Broadway hits, the following year on Broadway has mixed results after a movie releases nationally. Read More »

“What you read in the NY Post is true. Not sure exactly when, but I’m really excited. A great team for The River… Can’t wait to tread the boards again!!!” Mr. Jackman wrote on Instagram, next to a photo of the story. Read More »

Deborah Perham holds a stack of letters that her grandmother had saved for since the 1970s.

This is the age of adult onesies, adult nap times, and adult dodgeball leagues. So it was only a matter of time before adult show-and-tell joined the jamboree.

Thursday night, over adult drinks in the back room of the Branded Saloon in Prospect Heights, about 20 grown-ups — mostly women — gathered for a grown-up version of the exercise usually associated with schoolchildren.

Organized by Martie McNabb, a 54-year-old former high school biology teacher and a member of the Association of Personal Historians, the monthly program has locations in the Upper West Side, Greenwich Village, and the Long Island town of Commack. There are planned expansions to San Francisco and Boston and an event with the Brooklyn Historical Society. Read More »

Diners participate in a four-course silent meal at Eat in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn.

Dinner was served, minus the din.

As a pilot run for what it hopes to make a monthly event, Eat, a restaurant in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn, served a capacity crowd of 17 people a $40, four-course dinner (plus palette cleansers) of organic locavore fare in 90 minutes of total silence on Sunday night.

Nicholas Nauman, Eat’s 28-year-old managing chef and events planner, said he was inspired to hosts the meals by silent breakfasts he enjoyed at a monastery in the Indian Buddhist pilgrimage city of Bodh Gaya.

“We wanted to bring attention to the physical and visceral properties of eating, and less of the distractions you see so much these days,” said Mr. Nauman.

As patrons made their way into Eat, which opened in 2003 as a record store that sold coffee, they milled about in quiet conversation in the venue’s antechamber, which is separated from the dining area, ironically for the night, by an upright piano. Read More »